Circular Wind Tunnel

Site responsive work for the Seattle Portable Works collection. This is an 8’ diameter cold molded bent plywood circular wind tunnel. The method used to fabricate is similar to early aircraft construction and the notion of the wind tunnel refers to experimentation with aircraft design and flight. Boeing is located in Seattle and I have drawn from that industry and the geography of the area to create this work. An HO scale landscape, covered with trees, depicts the seven “hills” of the Seattle landscape. There are seven small airplane shaped windows inside the circle that allow one to peer into the inside. The entire work is suspended from an aluminum bracket that is mounted on a bearing above. A small fan is inside the tunnel draws air in one end and blows it out the other. The flow and friction of the air through the gap causes the tunnel to rotate at about 3 rpm. A strange soundscape is present at the focal point inside the space caused by the interior curved surface.

Wood, aluminum, bearings, fan, HO scale grass landscape. 8’ dia. x 12’ h 1992